What Do You Mean WE LOST?
by BibliophileBoleyn
Summary: It is Jasper and Alice's first time in high school, and apparently our favorite Confederate doesn't know the outcome of the Civil War. What happens in his first American History class? Read and Review, please!
1. Chapter 1

**AN-This story was an idea I had, but I have run a few ideas by friends. I know the chapter kind of ends in a cliffie, but I promise I have almost the whole second chapter written, it just needs to be typed. I really hope that you like it because it revolves around one of my favorite characters.**

**Disclaimer- I don't own Twilight, any of the characters, Pontiac, Dixie_, _or anything else that you recognize. I wish I owned Jasper, though. :)**

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Edward POV  
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It was our first time all going to high school together, even though Rosalie, Emmett, and I had been before. We had taken a break for a few years until we thought Jasper was ready. You don't really get nervous on your fist day of high school after so many times, but I was inexplicably apprehensive sitting in the back of the Pontiac on the way to school. As the school loomed into sight a sort of panic took over, but then I looked over in the seat between Alice and me, where Jasper was sitting, and I immediately understood the frenzied emotions that had been permeating the car the entire drive. Hearing what he was thinking confirmed it.

_What if I do something? What if I can't control myself? How can I control myself with all of those people packed into small rooms? All it would take is one wrong move, just one scent filling my nose an I would lose it..._

"Jasper, calm down. We're all going to be with you. Plus, with the way you are projecting your emotions right now, we would all be having panic attacks if it were possible. Nervousness isn't going to help you at all if the humans get a tenth of what is hitting us right now," I said, trying to convince him. We would make sure everything stayed under control, that I was sure of. Now he was visibly trying to calm himself, to no avail. Alice squeezed his hand and they stared into each other's eyes, having a silent conversation like they did so many times. They were so connected they could do this without my gift, and even with my gift I didn't understand what they did completely. It was like they were on a different level.

Then, Alice's eyes glazed over, becoming the now familiar indicator of her having a vision. I saw the scene in her mind as she did.

_All five of us were sitting in a classroom watching a man in a jacket. The man was moving around the classroom handing out papers and we weren't really paying attention to him until he said seven words. _

_"Our first topic will be the Civil War," the teacher said._

Alice's vision ended more abruptly than usual and I could tell it was because she cut it off, refusing to see it. I could see the looks of shock with a hint of amusement on her face.

_Well, this isn't how we planned for him to find out. Why didn't we think this would come up sooner in American History? What should we do? What can we do?_

I was as shocked as Alice. Why **had** we overlooked the fact that the Civil War would obviously be covered in American History? How was it best to tell Jasper that the side he fought faithfully for (and still had the original uniform, his original, for) had lost? How did he not know yet?

"Alice, what did you see?" Jasper asked, slightly frantic. He could read the emotions coming off of her, but had obviously not noticed the amusement that had came right after the vision and had already faded. Now he could only feel both of our shock. He was running through hundreds of scenarios involving himself losing control. Alice quickly thought through her explanation as she looked at me, and waited for my nod before beginning.

"It was nothing, Jazz. It was just about one of the lectures we get in class today," she answered, telling part of the truth.

_You do realize what this means, right, Edward? We both have seen the uniform in the closet. He might burst out singing __Dixie_ _or something. Or he'll get into how they lost. Then we are going to have to deal with constant strategies after he has found ever book within a hundred mile radius that even mentions the Civil War. Just think, hearing his thoughts all the time, going over EVERY battle or skirmish. Do you think you're ready for that?_

Seemingly aimless, I looked out one window, then out the other. Alice knew that meant 'no' and got a smirk on her face. We pulled into the school parking lot as both of us tried to run down ways to tell him and what we could spare. The thoughts of my family were across the spectrum as we got out of the car.

_Look at all the evident jealousy of these petty children. _ (Rosalie)

_I wonder if I could make this football team without suspicion._ (Emmett)

_Look at all of the people. They are surrounding and we aren't even in the school yet._ (Jasper)

_Edward, I know you're listening. Don't even think of mentioning this to him. We are going to play it as it comes, and if he starts to do anything rash, both of us will be able to know ahead of time and stop him. All five of us will have the class together, anyway._ (Alice)

My own thoughts were a little scattered. Was it best to just leave Jasper to find out from some random teacher who would probably support the Union, anyway? Or should we take him aside now and leave him to add that to his list of worries today? Then again, I probably should just go with what Alice wanted. After all, hadn't we learned to always bet on Alice after these years of living together?

I tried to focus on anything but that after Jasper read my emotions and noticed nervousness, indecision, and guilt. He looked at me questioningly.

_Everything okay, Edward? What did Alice really see? It wasn't just a lecture to make her that shocked. You should have felt it._

"It's nothing, Jasper, really. Just forget it. Remember this, it is the first of many times you'll do it." I tried to emanate truthfulness.

_If we survive this one_ , I heard Jasper think.

"We will," I said as an answer to his unspoken rebuke. The others glanced our way but didn't ask. Jasper took in a deep breath and held it as we walked into the school. The door we walked into was right next to the office, which was our first stop. We introduced ourselves to the secretary, except for Jasper, who remained quite and was taking small, measured breaths. He was trying to focus on anything but the fact it was just us and one weak human in the cramped office. The secretary, like many other people we met, was distracted by other things and didn't notice the fact that as she brushed her hand through her hair and leaned over the counter, the four of us closed protectively around Jasper, trying to block some of it from him.

The things going through her mind made me wish that I could block it out better. From what I knew of Alice, I was glad she wasn't the one who could read minds, or we might be holding her back from attacking the woman. After a few more minutes of me wishing I could bleach away the mental images she was sending out, she finally handed us the schedules and maps of the school. Seeing my sibling's schedules in my head, I noted who would be where at certain times of the day. It was a smaller school, so we all had each class with atleast another one of us. The first thing I noticed was third period. Everyone's schedule had American History. We had decided it would be best to all go in as freshman (it really would be Jasper and Alice's first high school anyway), and we all had lunch together, too.

My schedule wasn't much different from the usual. We didn't use the advanced school story because it was suspicious enough to have a family with five adopted teenagers that were the same age. Our story was that I was Jasper and Rosalie's younger brother, and they were twins. We were Carlisle's brother's children, and our parents had died when we were seven and eight. I was supposed to be a year younger than them but had skipped a grade. Emmett and Alice were brother and sister, and Emmett had been held back a grade. We wanted to have us all in the same grade so that Jasper would have someone in each class. That had definitely worked out, in fact, there was only one class that there wasn't two of us with him. Emmett was planning on having fun with his status as a "flunkie", even though he has graduated from high school over ten times and has been to college a few times, too. I was happy to see that the one class Jasper had with just Emmett, Alice and I had together. That meant that if something was about to happen, she could see it and I would see it through her.

We were walking down the hall and as we got closer to the groups of students, Jasper tensed. I could feel the anxiety build and hear what Jasper was thinking.

_There are so many people. It would be so easy to just get one. Their smells are so strong, all it would take it-_

"Jazz," I said quietly.

_Sorry, Edward._

My first class was Physical Science. Another year of a class I had been through countless times. Normally we would use the story of an advanced school from somewhere so we could get a bit more freedom in our class choices, because for someone holding multiple medical degrees, ninth grade Physical Science isn't close to engaging. This year we were a little more focused on getting Jasper through it. He was definitely nervous about going to school, but we were trying to encourage him. With everything he has been through, it was bound to take a lot to change, and it was expected. We didn't judge him on that. It still discouraged him every time he "slipped up".

Alice and Jasper were in my Physical Science class. The black lab tables were set up with two chairs behind each one. We went to the teacher, and luckily there were two empty tables in the back. Jasper and Alice sat in the last one, and I sat in front of Jasper. He was doing good at controlling his emotions, and he was actually trying to focus on Alice's. He could tell she was excited and nervous, which was unusual for her.

_Edward, why is she nervous? Is it because she sees something?_

I looked at the poster on the left wall and then out the window on the right, covertly dismissing Jasper's thought.

_Is it because this is her first time in school?_

I looked from the ceiling to the floor. She was nervous about not understanding something, even though she had already went through home schooling courses and she could see the future (including what we were going to do in class so she could prepare).

_She is really that worried about it? We talked about it earlier and I thought she was fine. I'll just have to fix it._

Jasper sent a wave of calm out to Alice and her thoughts turned from questioning herself to confidence. The other students' thoughts were more on us than the teacher, who was going over a syllabus. None of the thoughts were particularly interesting, so I decided to listen to what we would be covering this year. It was fairly basic, there would be studies of elements and atoms, electricity, and magnetism. After ten minutes Alice had gotten bored, and she decided to have a silent discussion with me.

_Do you think we should try to see how Jasper reacts?_

I shook my head no.

_Okay. I admit it will be pretty funny. I can't believe we have gotten away with keeping it from him this long. That may have something to do with hiding all of Carlisle's books that mention it._

I smiled and laughed to myself.

_Don't tell Rosalie or Emmett. What do you think Carlisle is going to say?_

I tried to imagine what Carlisle would do. That would probably depend on the outcome. Like Alice said earlier, between the two of us, we could see what Jasper would do in the future, exactly what he was thinking, and had near instant communication. Rosalie could get male teachers to do just about anything. Then, Emmett and I can overpower Jasper, not that we would really need to because we could get him out before that.

_I don't think we'll need to overpower him to get him out, Edward. Yes, I can tell what you were going to think because it was obvious where that question would lead you. Quit getting angry that I'm right, Jazz will think something is going on. From what I see, I think Carlisle is going to be okay with it. This is by no means the worst thing we have done. Plus, we can always say Emmett is planning to do something worse soon. That will get us out of it._

It was times like this when I really like having Alice as a sister. She always knew what to do to get away with things like this. I could already see a plan working out in her head. The rest of the hour went by quickly with Alice and me continuing our silent conversation.

My next hour was English with Emmett. Alice, Rosalie, and Jasper had gym. Before we had left Physical Science, Alice had scanned the coming hour and nothing was going to happen that she could see. Emmett and I passed notes, and we were moving so quickly no human could see. I was actually excited and nervous about next hour, which meant Alice must be rubbing off on me. I could hear Alice still because the gymnasium was almost directly adjacent to my classroom. Jasper seemed to be doing good. I actually felt sort of bad about not warning him, but I tried to focus on other things. I looked at the list of books we would be reading. _Wuthering Heights_ was the first one, again. The bell finally rang and I almost ran out of the room too fast.

_Anxious?_ Emmett thought.

"Just ready to get out of this class," I answered. We walked into the American History class and were the first ones there. The classroom was set up with tables of five instead of desks.

_This will be better for him. We can all sit around and he won't have to sit right next to a human._

The tables were set up with two chairs on each side and one chair on the end, so nobody's back was to the chalkboard. I sat next to the end, on the right side of the table, and Emmett sat next to me. Waiting for the others I noticed a poster that was right on the back wall behind the next table over.

"Emmett, does that poster say what I think it does?" I asked him. He looked where I indicated.

"No way!" he said, stunned as he read the title, _Great Civil War Generals and How They Affected the Outcome of the War_.

"And there isn't a single one from Texas, is there?" I asked. Maybe Jasper wouldn't notice it.

"Nope," he said, popping the 'p'. A minute later our siblings came in. Jasper was keeping his head down and thinking about how it was getting a little easier. Alice was excited, but the others attributed it to her natural demeanor. Rosalie was being Rosalie. Emmett was looking between Jasper, me, and the poster, so I nudged him in the ribs before Jasper got suspicious. Alice noted what Emmett was doing and noticed the poster.

_Wow, that is just going to add to it. I don't see him noticing it before. He will probably see it later, though, and we will have to listen to how it is right and wrong._

The teacher walked in and sat his bag down beside the desk as the bell rang. Emmett seems to have caught vaguely onto what would happen, because he realized that the poster wouldn't be there if we weren't going to study it. He thought we might have a few days atleast before it would come up, and that we should tell him tonight. The teacher introduced himself and began handing out the syllabus.

"Our first topic will be the Civil War," he said.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sorry it took so long to update. I am working on the other chapter. I am also sorry this is so short compared to the first chapter, it just came the a natural stopping point here. This is still Edward's POV, and since he can hear everyone else's thoughts, I put the person who thought particular things in parenthesis if there isn't a direct indication of who thought it because it gets a little confusing. I hope you like it.**

**Disclaimer: Nope, I still don't own Twilight. I also don't own the Cullen's Pontiac or (unfortunately) the Cullen men. If you do own any of them and would like to voluntarily give them to me, I wouldn't refuse.**

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All four of our heads whipped to Jasper. Emmett and Rosalie looked shocked. Alice was having a vision about what would happen next, so we could step in before anything could happen. Jasper was actually happy, and in his mind he was questioning why Carlisle didn't have any books on it. He decided that it was odd that out of all of the historical books there, none mention anything between 1861 and 1900, but was still happy he should be an expert on this subject. After hearing what the teacher would say next, his demeanor would certainly change.

"We will go into the leading causes, the advantages and disadvantages of both sides," the teacher said, "and how the Union ultimately won." Jasper's jaw dropped, and I think if he could have fainted, he would have. He just kept repeating the same mantra over and over in his head.

_No. No. __**No. **__No, no, no, no, no!_

"No." He finally said it out loud. He was speaking at vampire speed so the teacher didn't notice. "You would have told me. I would have known. We were winning it back! Alice!" The last part wasn't at vampire speed. _It isn't possible. They are my family. I was in the South enough, obviously I was a little preoccupied, but I still should have heard if we had lost. I mean, I would have been out completely for a while, but I didn't think I had been that far gone._

"Mr. Cullen, is something wrong?"

"The Union can't have won! We were supposed to win!"

"Jasper, technically no one is supposed to win a war," Emmett said. The scene was playing out seconds before it happened in Alice's mind. I was trying as hard as I could not to laugh at the thoughts flowing through the room.

"Mr. Cullen, what do you mean 'we'?" the teacher asked cautiously. _We thought something would be wrong with them. Five adopted teenagers all in the same grade has to bring some trouble. This one appears to be a delusional neo-Confederate who appears to have convinced himself that the South won the war. How has this kid made it to ninth grade without being committed?_

_Wow, those new kids are crazy. _(Random Kid in class)

_You two knew about this didn't you, Edward? You could have let us in on the fun. Oh well, we get to see it, none the less. _(Emmett)

_This should be interesting. _(Rosalie)

"How did they win? We were fighting for our rights! I know we lost Galveston, but I definitely remember hearing that we won it back just a few months later. How could you not have told me?! Is that why there is the mysterious cut-off in the library? Did you remove the books?" Jasper was practically in hysterics. He was trying to run through all of the news he could think of. _Edward, if one of you does not answer me in the next ten seconds, I promise you, you will regret it._

I could already tell that his control over his emotions was beginning to slip, but the images of what he could make me do convinced me. Plus, I could already sense some patriotism, shock, and betrayal making waves around the room in small amounts (he wasn't focusing it), just enough to start affecting the thoughts of the humans in the room. Before I could answer, though, there was a call from the office that we were going home. It was then that I noticed Alice was gone.

_I got Carlisle to get us off but he is expecting a story as soon as we get home. He just got off early from the hospital. Get Jasper out to the car as soon as possible_. I heard Alice's say in her mind.

I grabbed Jasper's arm and walked as fast as human pace would allow. He wasn't protesting, but he was mentally screaming at me. Rosalie was a little behind us from smoothing things over with the teacher.

"Just let me get you to the car, Jasper. You can stop showing me all of the things you can make me do. I can't exactly explain it right now," I said. His mental tirade slowed and he was just trying to go over every piece of information that involved the Union and the Confederacy. It was surprising that he hadn't connected some of the pieces, but then again, he didn't think he needed to scrutinize the information. He assumed what he thought was true. We finally got into Pontiac and Rosalie started to drive away.

"Hello! Is anyone going to tell me why that teacher was lying and saying that the Union won? You are my family, you couldn't keep something like that from me. Did the names somehow get changed or something?" Jasper said. We all got slightly uncomfortable after he said that. I was waiting for someone else to speak up, especially Alice, but from what I heard in their heads, they were all waiting for me.

"Since the rest of you chickens won't say it, I will. Let's talk about it at home, Jasper. We have some stuff there for you," I said. They knew what I was talking about, it was the box of books that Carlisle had accumulated about the Civil War that we took down from the library and hid in the back of the basement. Why hadn't we just told him? Weren't we just as cruel by letting him live under an illusion than we were by telling him the Confederacy, his country, the thing he was willing to give up his life for, had lost the war and been eradicated? Quickly speeding through the nearly empty streets of the town we were at our home within minutes. Jasper's breathing was unnecessarily labored. Pulling down the long, winding driveway felt like we were on our way to a firing squad (were we not immortal vampires with rock solid skin). As Rosalie parked the car I tried to prepare myself for one of the hardest moments of my existence.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I am INCREDIBLY sorry that it took this long for me to update. Though it isn't an excuse, I have been really busy with school, and then during all of November I was on a self-imposed ban from writing fanfic because of NaNoWriMo (which didn't work, I still didn't make the quota). I have decided that since it is impossible to get out 40,000 words in a day, that I will update my stories. This chapter was already half written, and I am going to work on a sort of epilouge next, and then it will be done. Thanks to all of the readers out there who have stuck with this story, the recent reviews and alerts have helped. This chapter has my favorite part of this whole story, so I hope you like it.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Twilight, do you think that I would have been such a procrastinator about NaNoWriMo? Well, I don't own it, I'm obviously not Stephenie Meyer, or my own novel would be a lot better. So, there you go, on with the reading.**

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I knew that it was going to be bad, and I was trying to just focus on my thoughts and ignoring Jasper's silent demands and questions. I knew that Carlisle was in his study waiting for us, and I led my siblings to him. Making our way up to the second story and to the opposite end of the floor was taking a lot longer than normal, we were all walking at human speed. Jasper had figured out that there was some serious news coming. Not that he didn't consider any news about war non-serious, but he knew that it was big. With Carlisle being here and not the hospital, and him calling us all to his study, Jasper knew that it was inevitable. Even if the Confederacy had won the war, something had gone wrong, seriously wrong. There was no other answer. He was dreading what was coming up, but he had to know what happened.

_Edward, what happened at school today? Alice phoned me and said that she needed me to get all of you out of school for the rest of the day and that I should probably come home, too. She only told me that something happened in American History with Jasper. I know that she wouldn't have been that calm if something had gone wrong, and you wouldn't have waited for me to get you out, you would have just left. I can only think of one thing that could happen in American History with Jasper that would merit getting out of school that urgently. Was it something to do with the Civil War?_

I faintly nodded my head to him as we entered the room.

_Does he know what happened?_

I shook my head this time.

_You all believe that we need to tell him now?_

I again nodded. As our family filed into the room and took seats tensely we ended our conversation. His eyes gazed on each of us in turn.

"I didn't expect to see all of you in the middle of the day like this. Would you like to explain why you are not in school?" he asked. Alice decided to take command, finally. She explained how our day went, minus her vision and our decisions. Carlisle knew us enough to figure what was left out and point it out to me in his mind. I sat there listening to his assessment of what had happened. He was in a difficult position. Even if they were new to the family, Jasper was beginning to think of Carlisle and Esme as his parents quicker than was expected from his background. How could a father tell his son that he lost the war? Crush his entire history? It certainly couldn't be easy.

_And you couldn't make this easy on me, could you? I have to be the one to tell him? If it is up for discussion, I vote for Alice. He won't get too mad at her, and not for a long time. Don't I get the chance to push it off on someone else?_

The look on my face must have snapped Carlisle out of his completely out of character moment. I was a mix between surprised and amused. My three hundred and something year-old vampire father was begging to get out of telling one of his sons something difficult. It was like the thoughts of human fathers I heard before they gave their children "The Talk". I barely held in the laugh at that, and tried to regain my composure.

_Edward, are you going to answer me? Is there any way of getting Alice to do this by herself? Please?_

I shook my head at him. He was going to be the one who had to do it. First of all, Alice was going to have to be focused on Jasper, and probably consoling him. Carlisle was also the only one who could break it to him easily. I may have understood people's minds better than most, but I was not going to tackle this proverbial ant hill. Jasper would be understandably upset, not just at the fact that the South lost, but at the fact that we hadn't thought to tell him. Everytime we would see something that would bring up a memory of the Civil War for him, we would direct that thought away. He was figuring it all out now, and it wasn't to our advantage. I looked expectantly at my father, and he gave a solemn and resigned look.

"Jasper, there is something that we need to tell you. I don't know how else to tell you this, but the Confederacy lost the war," Carlisle said, looking at Jasper.

"What do you mean we lost? How did we lose?" Jasper shouted.

"As you know, the Confederacy lost the First Battle of Galveston, which you were in," Carlisle began. "I don't know how much you remember, but the next big battle of 1862 was the Battle of Fredericksburg, which the Confederacy won. It was back and forth for a lot of the war. In 1864, there was another battle at Galveston, and the Confederacy won and the blockade placed by the Union was lifted. The Confederacy had some big losses, too, like Gettysburg, but everyone lost there. In the beginning of 1864, Ulysses S. Grant was put in charge of the Union. The biggest domino to fall was when Robert E. Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House. After that, there were more surrenders, and President Andrew Johnson finally signed the proclamation ending the war on August 20, 1866, but it was really over much before that. Texas was the last state to give up," he added, trying to brighten the outlook of ripping up Jasper's dead heart.

"Lee surrendered?" Jasper asked in an extremely quiet voice that cracked. He sounded like his dead heart was being crushed. I was ashamed that we had decided to keep this a secret from him, and thought that this was probably like hearing that your hero, the one that your life had literally been modeled after, had done the unthinkable. Rosalie was looking slightly sad, she did care about her family a little bit more than she let on. Emmett was grimacing, and Carlisle looked in pain. Alice was incredibly sad, wrapping her arms around Jasper. From Carlisle's thoughts, I knew that he didn't want to answer, so I decided that he would owe me.

"Ya, Jasper, but it was the right thing to do. They had already had to abandon Richmond, and their only hope was to get to North Carolina. Lee thought it was just calvary, he thought that they could take the Union forces between them, but he was wrong. There was two corps of infantry with the cavalry. The terms that he agreed to ensured that none of his soldiers would be imprisoned or prosecuted. He was doing a better job by surrendering then, before those terms were lost, than by holding on to a failing campaign and making them suffer needlessly," I said, trying to redeem the one that Jasper had looked up to as his leader. "Yes, I'm telling the truth," I answered his unspoken question.

"Jazzy, I don't think that you should go alone right now. Why don't you take Edward hunting with you, get some time to think," Alice said. We both looked at her like she was crazy, but in her mind she said, _Edward, just do it. Please, we need to get some stuff together for Jasper, and you'll be able to keep him out longer than any of us. Plus, you can tell us if there is something that we need to do._ I reluctantly nodded, the things I do for my family. I was about to take a depressed, empath vampire hunting and listen to his thoughts about the Civil War.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: This is the final installment of this story. I want to add that both chapter 3 and chapter 4 were mostly unedited, because I wanted to get this stuff out because of my long hiatus. This part is probably less funny than the others, but I think it may be my favorite. I want to first thank ****CullenFreak93, because without her, this story would never have been thought of, continued, or published. I also would like to thank ****Catchick10, ****diehardTWIhard, ****Bella Mason-Cullen17, and ****twilightvampire258093, for being my first reviewers on this story. I hope that you like the conclusion.**

**Disclaimer: Obviously, Twilight isn't mine. If it was, there would be a heck of a lot more Jasper parts, and a few things that were left out would be in. **

**P.S. If you haven't figured it out yet, Jasper's my favorite. :)**

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It had been a month since that day in American History class when Jasper was finally told the outcome of the Civil War. I think that we all regretted our decision to keep it a secret for a few reasons.

First was the effect on Jasper. He had really been upset, and thus, by extension, we were. We all loved him, and we hated that he had to find out in such a blunt manner. Alice was with him through it all. He tried to put up a brave front, which is extremely difficult for an empath, but we all could see his depression. I guess it is no different for a soldier to find out that his side had lost, whether it is at that time, or almost a hundred years later. He was also mad, and not at us. He was upset a little that we hadn't told him, but he quickly got over it. He was mad at himself, for not seeing the signs and not paying attention. But he was mad at someone else, someone that most of the family, except for myself, Carlisle, and Alice, knew little about. He was mad at Maria. He was mad that she had turned him when she did, that she had taken him away from his country, that she had kept him away, and that she had had so much control over him that he hadn't known the outcome of one of the two biggest wars in America's history. Of course, I knew that he had always hated her, but this was just so much more. He wasn't upset for being a vampire, he had Alice because of it. The way that he had got to Alice was what upset him. By the time that he had reached her, he was almost nothing. He wanted to die, wanted no more a place on this earth. He hated what he had done, how he was, and it was Maria that had done that to him. Alice had had a hard road ahead of her when she met him, and he was only as different as he was because of her. All of the good in him, he attributed to Alice.

Thus, his malice for Maria was justifiable. That thing had destroyed everything that he was. He had been a loyal patriot for his state, trying to fight for what he believed was right, trying to help people. He had been doing his duty, saving the innocent citizens when she had attacked him. He had been trying to save her. She had made him use his skills for despicable things, things even he tried not to think about. The gore that he had seen in the Civil War was nothing compared to what he had face after. That was enough to make anyone angry and upset. She was also the reason that he never found out. To keep him focused on the mission that she wanted him to complete she had isolated him. He had no contact with anyone, and no way to find out unless she told him. Obviously, she had never told him. He was quick to make the distinction between our reasons for not telling him and hers. He understood that we did it out of love, to protect him from the hurt that had inevitably came, no matter our futile attempts. She had done it as another way to control him, a way to keep him in line, tearing him away from the strongest human memories that he had so that he lost all connections with his former self. He may have forgotten the many things about the war, but as they say, you can take the boy out of Texas, but you can't take the Texas out of the boy (thus the reason for his insistence-despite Alice's protests-of his boots).

The second reason that we, or more just Alice and I, were sorry for not telling him before that was Esme. Her fury was unimaginable when she found out that Alice had a vision about what the teacher would say and that I knew, too. She shamed us by saying that most of Jasper's depression was because his family didn't tell him until the had to, and that he hadn't really found out from us. Esme's protectiveness over the newer member of her family did prove to Jasper just a little bit more about how important he was to us, though. Her anger wasn't as much of a punishment to us after we figured that out, even if it did result in us using our powers to skirt around her for a few weeks.

The third reason was that we were all now driven insane by Jasper's now insistent need to find out **everything** about the Civil War. By the time that he and I had gotten back from hunting, the removed pieces of Carlisle's library had been replaced and a few things had been added. Now, however, there were constant trips to various bookstores for new material. Alice and I got it the worst, to Esme's joy, because I had to mentally listen to his thoughts (which now had an almost constant subject) and she had to listen to it when they were alone. On the plus side, all of us were becoming Civil War experts, including things about the life of soldiers (we had to hear everything that he remembered, which was actually more than we thought, and how the books were wrong). We were also forced into debates about various things, which had gotten old pretty quickly. He even used his powers in class so that the teacher would engage him and be more sympathetic to the things that he said, and so that children spoke up. We tried to remind him about staying inconspicuous, even trying to get Carlisle to tell him to stop, but Esme halted our efforts. She said that it was good that he was interacting with humans and that he had a subject that he was so passionate about. She pointed out how Rosalie had cars, I had music, Alice had shopping, and Emmett had whatever he had, so it would be unfair to try and limit him.

The past month had done a lot of things for our entire family, even with the trials and tribulations that it brought. Jasper was getting a lot better being around humans, a result of his want of frequent trips to bookstore. He had started by trying to make us go for him, but we all quickly put a stop to that. We weren't worrying anymore about keeping him away from certain things or distracting him, so life was a little easier. He now had another positive reason to go to school, other than to be with Alice. The best part was that he seemed like he felt more comfortable with our family, which made all of us, even Rosalie, happy. He saw actions that showed how much Esme loved him, to support the words, and that made him more comfortable. Carlisle told him that he was always up for a discussion, and would sit through hours long ones about different things, giving them a new way to bond. It wasn't a normal week if there hadn't been at least four family debates. The best thing was that Jasper included himself in that family, finally.


End file.
